Unthinkable by Nancy Werlin Read Free Book Online

Fenella looked around cautiously. “Where’s the
dog?”
“Outside,” said Soledad. “Pierre can live between the backyard and the basement, so your cat can be here in the house.”
“That’s very kind.” Fenella thought of what Ryland had
said about wanting to observe everyone. It would do no
harm to let the cat do that. “Can I go get him, then?”
Lucy looked startled. “Sure. All right. Of course you don’t
want him cooped up.”
When Fenella returned to the kitchen, Ryland in her
arms, it was clear that the two women had been talking
in low voices, and equally clear that they had been talking about Fenella. It was only natural, Fenella knew. It felt
odd anyway. She couldn’t help wondering what they truly
thought of her having shown up like this. It could not possibly be convenient. Were they really entirely unsuspicious?
It seemed so.
Soledad said, “Dinner won’t be ready for an hour yet,
and the guys won’t be back until then anyway. Can we give
you a tour of the house? We’ll have to be quiet—Dawn is
sleeping.”
“I’d like a tour,” said Fenella. She was relieved to learn the
child was out of the way.
Soledad smiled once more. So did Lucy.
This felt so awkward.
Their first stop was a half-bathroom located off the
kitchen. Fenella had been shown the upstairs bath earlier,
but now that she was not so tired, she found she had questions. It was good to have something impersonal to talk
about.
“What happens to the waste water from the toilet?”
“Underground pipes collect everything from our house
and the other houses into sewers under the streets,” Lucy
said.
“Then what happens to it?”
Lucy looked at Soledad. Soledad looked at Lucy. Soledad
said, “It flows to a treatment plant.”
“What’s a treatment plant?”
“A place that cleans dirty water.”
“Really? That’s possible?” Fenella was intrigued.
“Uh. I believe so.”
“How?”
“Well. I’m not certain. I’ll look it up online.”
“Online?”
Soledad looked at Lucy. Lucy looked at Soledad. Lucy
said, “It’s a way to find out information. I’ll explain it to you
later. Watch.” She demonstrated the cold and hot water taps.
“This water too goes down the drain and into those sewers?” Fenella said.
“Yes. It’s called a plumbing system.” Lucy had Fenella put
the cat down and practice mixing the water to a good temperature. “The shower works the same way. You’ll want to
test the water temperature before you get under the spray
to wash.”
“It’s so interesting,” said Fenella thoughtfully. “You know,
in Faerie, you don’t need to worry about personal grooming, or cleaning, or really, anything to do with taking care
of your body.”
“No toilets, even?” said Lucy incredulously.
Fenella shook her head. “Not needed.”
“Miranda told me that too,” Soledad said. “But I can’t
wrap my mind around how it would work. Your digestive
system doesn’t process what you eat? What about other
organs? Does your heart still pump blood?”
“Oh, yes. Everything works the same, physically. It just
doesn’t have the same consequences.” Fenella paused. “I
never questioned how it worked before. But now I’d really
like to think about it.”
“There must be some scientific principle that explains it,”
Soledad said. “Even if it’s a principle we haven’t discovered
yet. That would make sense.”
“Not everything makes sense, Mom,” said Lucy.
“I don’t accept that. I will only accept that I don’t understand how it makes sense.”
“Oh, Mom.”
Fenella picked up Ryland again. They moved into a large
room beyond the kitchen that was called the family room.
This was furnished with many large chairs, one of which
was called a sofa and was wide enough to seat three or four
people. On the floor was a worn carpet with faded blue and
pink roses on a yellow background. There was a large knitting basket next to a rocking chair. A half-finished child’s
pink